Høyre congratulates Liu Xiaobo on being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize

The Vice-President of Høyre, Jan Tore Sanner, congratulates Liu Xiaobo on being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize 2010. ”This award is a deserved recognition of a brave democracy activist,” says Jan Tore Sanner, who was himself one of several who nominated Liu Xiaobo for the Peace Prize.

08.10.2010

In his letter of nomination, Sanner wrote,

Liu's personal courage and lifelong struggle for the rights of the individual against a mighty government apparatus, places him in a proud line of human rights activists. Here, the very spirit of the Nobel Peace Prize is demonstrated: The unbendable and self-sacrificing struggle for what is right, even in the face of great adversity.[...]

What Liu does, reminds us that there are values that should always form the foundation of a just and fair society, and that these values must be fought for.

I am of the conviction that those of us who have been fortunate to be born in safe and democratic countries, have an obligation to stand up for these values, even in other parts of the world, where people in the same situation as Liu risk their lives and wellbeing to achieve what we all too easily take for granted.